


Love Bite

by noumenon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Space Dad is Best Dad, based on art, love bug au, she/her pronouns for pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 00:04:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11817021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noumenon/pseuds/noumenon
Summary: While on a diplomatic mission, Keith is bitten by a bug which creates a strong infatuation towards the first person he sees: Lance.Based onthis comicbyeyuhgoon tumblr.





	Love Bite

Planet Oulike was, to say the least, adorable. Lance was certain that there couldn’t be a more adorable race in the entire universe. The Ouliken were kind of sheep-like, and their wooly coats were braided and woven into intricate designs. Lance was fairly certain that the colors were artificial, dyes added in the braiding process to enhance the designs. Their Queen’s coat was an intricate masterpiece that was reminiscent of a Persian rug. Some of the wool was sheared off in the process of making their clothes, but part of it was carefully spun while still attached to create the base of the weave. They showed the Paladins the process since they were all pretty curious about how their clothes seemed to be attached to their bodies.

Even the insects on the planet were absolutely adorable. Lance held his hand out for a pink heart-shaped moth-like bug to land on.

“I see one of our Hubun has found you!” The queen said happily. “They are a delightful creature, native to our planet.” She told them. “You may want to be careful, however. Their bite – ”

Lance didn’t even wait for her to finish talking. As much as he might enjoy a cute little bug, like moths or grasshoppers or cicadas he hated anything that might bite him. He shook his hand furiously and the moth went sailing into Keith’s face. 

The Queen chuckled. “Now now, you don’t have to be afraid of the Hubun,”

Keith suddenly yelped and smacked the bug off his face. It flew away into the distance, no longer interested in any of the paladins.

“Lance! What the hell?” Keith whipped his head around to glare at Lance. “Why’d you have to throw it at me?”

“I didn’t _mean_ to throw it at you, I didn’t want to get bitten!”

“Yeah and now _I’m_ the one who got bitten!”

“I didn’t realize there was so much discord between your paladins.” The Queen said, though she didn’t seem the least bit disturbed by this. If anything, she seemed amused. “Perhaps the Hubun chose them for a reason.”

“What exactly are you talking about?” Allura asked. 

“The bite of a Hubun causes uninhibited infatuation with the first person the bitten person sees, only for a few days. In this case it seems your red paladin has fallen for your blue paladin.”

Keith blinked a few times, then stared at Lance, his glare softening. “Wow, Lance I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”

“Oh no.” Lance’s face paled.

“Oh _yes_.” Pidge slapped her hands together.

“Shiro!” Lance yelled across the crowd to where Hunk was getting his hair braided and Shiro was being covered in woven wreathes with all the colors of Voltron. 

Shiro looked up immediately at the tone of his voice and quickly pushed through the crowd to make his way over to the rest of his team, followed shortly by Hunk who was very unhappy that the Ouliken didn’t get to finish doing his hair.

“What happened? Is something wrong?” Shiro looked around quickly, looking for whatever could have caused Lance’s obvious distress. 

“Please help me.”

In the short time it took for Shiro and Hunk to rejoin the rest of the group, Keith had made his way over to Lance and was now standing behind him with his arms wrapped loosely around his waist and his face pressed against his neck.

“I. Um.” Shiro stammered, unsure of the sight before him.

“Get this.” Pidge said happily. “Keith got bitten by some alien love bug and now he’s even gayer than usual and completely into Lance.”

“Help. Please.” Lance said again and Keith’s hands started to roam.

“Are you uh, are you doing okay there Lance?” Hunk asked.

“Do I look like I’m doing okay?” Lance practically shouted.

“Calm down, Lance.” Keith said softly into his hear, eliciting a shiver from the other boy.

“Okay, Keith, please let go of Lance. You’re clearly making him very uncomfortable.” Shiro ordered after processing what exactly was going on.

“In our culture,” The Queen cut in, “We typically reciprocate the Hubun’s effects by having the other party become bitten as well. We believe strongly in the free exchange of love. I’m sure it won’t be hard to find another Hubun for your blue paladin here. The experience will bring them closer than ever.”

“I like that idea.” Keith pressed a kiss against Lance’s shoulder. He then said, quietly so only Lance could hear him, “I know you don’t like bug bites, but how about a love bite from me?”

Lance figured out how to get his legs working again after hearing that and immediately pushed himself out of Keith’s arms and stumbled forward. Shiro got between the two boys before Keith could reattach himself to Lance and held him back.

“I think the best course of action would be to get everyone back to the castle.” Shiro said.

“We thank you for your hospitality, truly.” Allura bowed to their queen. “If I may, could we take a specimen back to our labs? We want to be able to do some tests to see if the bite will have any unexpected symptoms on our paladin due to his different biology. Any information you have on the Hubuns will be greatly appreciated.”

“Of course dear! Come this way.” She ushered Allura back towards the village center. “Thank you and continue to spread the love.” The Queen said with a wave to the rest of team Voltron.

Once they were back at the castle they had time to try and figure out what exactly could be done about Keith’s situation. Figuring things out, unfortunately, meant that Coran was needed for his knowledge on alien biology, Hunk and Pidge were needed for their combined extensive knowledge on pretty much everything else, and Shiro was needed for leadership. Actually, Lance was pretty sure that Shiro wasn’t needed all that much and really wished that Shiro would come help keep Keith off of him. They could have at _least_ made Keith a part of the think tank trying to find a way to end the love infection sooner instead of just taking a blood sample and leaving it at that. Lance resorted to locking himself in his room. Keith tried a few times to convince him to open the door but he refused and Keith eventually went away. 

Lance buried his face in his pillow and sighed.

“Why did this have to happen?” He moaned. Of course his crush would get space roofied into falling for him, the universe was just out to get him like that. He couldn’t handle it. Keith’s hands on his body made his skin feel like it was catching on fire even through the paladin armor. The memory of it burned in his mind and felt like that fire of emotion had left scorch marks on him and he could feel himself blushing. Lance wanted nothing more than anything to fully give in to Keith’s insane infatuation with him, but he wasn’t that kind of guy. “Obviously Keith would never like me without some stupid alien bug bite,” he told himself.

“Lance? Buddy?” Hunk’s voice called through his door.

“I’m not here.” Lance answered.

“I fixed up some dinner if you’re hungry. I made some of your favorites!”

Lance crawled out of bed and opened the door. “Fine. I’ll come out for food.”

“Oh and also we have some new information about the Hubun love bite.” Hunk said very quickly, grabbing Lance by the arm and tugging him away from his door before he had a chance to retreat back inside to safety.

“You lured me out with food just to tell me bad news? Hunk, you’re demoted. The mice are now my best friends.” Lance huffed.

“It’s not that bad! It’s not like, best case scenario news but it’s better than we thought.” Hunk admitted. “From what Allura gathered about the Hubun it only lasts a few days, but that’s on Ouliken. On Keith, it might be a bit less. We think a larger body is going to work through the toxin faster, but we’re not entirely sure. The only thing we’re really sure about is that there’s no way to lessen the effects artificially, so we can only hope it wears off in a day or two instead of taking even longer. The Queen said it can sometimes last up to a week with Ouliken.”

“Hunk!” Lance cried. “I’m gonna die. This is it. I’m going to die of being too bi to function. I bequeath to you all my hair supplies. But Pidge gets my face masks. If I’m dead she can’t get mad at me for thinking that she needs them.”

“It’s not that bad.” Hunk said. “I thought you said you got over your crush on Keith anyways.”

“I might have underestimated the size of that crush and the whole ‘getting over it’ was a bit of wistful thinking and storytelling.” 

“Oh, Lance.” His friend sighed. “It’ll be okay. Shiro can help keep Keith away from you if he goes too far. And I’m pretty sure dying of a crush isn’t an actual thing.”

“Yes it is!” Lance insisted. “I’ll have a heart attack! All my blood is gonna rush to my face and then my head is going to explode. It’s going to be super gross and I can’t do this!”

“You don’t really have a choice, man.” Hunk said awkwardly. “Like I said, there’s not really anything we can do but wait this out.”

Hunk continued to lead Lance to the dining hall. Lance could feel his heart pounding in his chest, still stuck on the thought of Keith’s hands on his hips. Luckily, Keith was missing from the dinner table when he and Hunk arrived. Allura and Shiro were chatting and Pidge was fiddling with her phone while Coran set the table with the amazing food that Hunk had made for them. At least Hunk was a good friend who knew just the right foods to make for Lance when he was on the verge of panicking. 

They all sat down to eat. Shiro was looking at the door, clearly concerned. They all chatted like nothing was wrong but even then, the nagging feeling remained. It wasn’t just Lance who was trying to stay calm. Hunk didn’t say it, but Lance knew he was worried about Voltron. They couldn’t form Voltron if Keith was completely out of it like this. Allura and Shiro were likely worried about the same thing, and Shiro was worried about Keith’s well-being on top of that. Pidge actually didn’t seem all that stressed out. She was more amused than anything else by the whole situation.

“Honestly this whole thing is great.” Pidge said, grinning. “Not only can I make fun of Lance for being so scared of a cute little pink heart-shaped moth – ”

“I wasn’t scared! I just didn’t want to get bitten by some alien bugs right on my face!” Lance exclaimed. “Look at this face! Bug bites are a bit fat no no with the amount of time I spend looking this good.”

“You do look really good.” 

“Oh quiznack.” Lance said.

Keith had strutted into the room, Lance’s green jacket hanging off his thin frame. He took a seat next to Lance and grinned at him.

“How did you get my jacket?” Lance asked him.

“You left your door open. I was looking for you, and you weren’t there.” He was pouting and oh no, Lance could not handle that.

“Keith.” Shiro chastised. “You really should give Lance his jacket back.” It was like he was talking to a child, but Keith wasn’t having it.

“No way. It smells like him.”

Lance moved his seat a bit away from Keith, or tried to at least. Keith hooked his ankle around the leg of the chair and pulled him back even closer than before.

“Keith.” Lance whined. “Just let me eat in peace, please.”

Keith didn’t respond. He took the fork out of Lance’s hand and finished the bite Lance had been about to eat. He withdrew the fork slowly from between his lips, never breaking eye contact with Lance before handing it back.

“Well thanks for dinner Hunk I’m just gonna grab some of this and head back to my room.” Lance said very quickly, his voice cracking as he did. He went to grab a few bread rolls but Keith got to them before him. Keith took a bite of the one he was holding before handing it over to Lance.

“I um,” Lance’s eyes darted between the roll and Keith’s lips. He grabbed the offered roll and darted off before anything else embarrassing could happen.

Lance needed a break. His heart was pounding in his chest, and not from running back to his room. He needed a shower. A very long, very cold shower, followed by about ten hours of sleep to hopefully clear his head.

It worked, a little bit. When Lance woke up he felt a lot better. Nobody was waiting for him outside his door as he left to get breakfast. Keith usually got up early to train, though Lance had no idea if he was still doing that in his current state. Everyone was already at the table when he got there. There was a spread of leftovers and food goo for them all to enjoy. Keith smiled as soon as Lance entered the room. He thought for a moment, contemplating his choices in his mind. If he didn’t sit next to Keith, Keith would probably end up moving next to him, right? So maybe it would be for the best to sit next to him from the start. 

“Lance, sit here.” Keith waved him over.

“Yeah, fine.” Lance grumbled. Keith was giving him puppy dog eyes but that definitely wasn’t the reason why he was going to sit with him. Nope. Definitely not.

“I got you a plate.” Keith pushed a plate filled with first picks of Hunk’s leftovers. It was a nice gesture, and Lance was very hungry after ditching halfway through dinner the night before. 

“Are you feeling alright?” Keith asked him, leaning in close. “You left in a hurry last night.”

‘Deep breaths’ he told himself. “I’m fine.”

“I’ll say.” Keith grinned.

Pidge groaned and dropped her fork. “I can’t believe Keith is worse than Lance!”

“Hey! You’re the one who was enjoying this yesterday!” Lance shot back at her. 

“It’s funny watching you be in pain.” She said.

“Come on guys, let’s just eat our food and then we can get some training in.” Shiro ordered. “And Keith, please try to behave yourself.”

“No promises.”

Lance elected to ignore Keith’s flirtations as he ate his food. It was hard though, and it wasn’t even just the flirting that was killing him. The soft looks and the quiet sighs from Keith as he stared at Lance like he was the most beautiful thing in the world made his head spin, but he had to get ahold of himself. If Keith couldn’t control himself, Lance had to at least be able to control himself. It wasn’t helping that Keith was still wearing his jacket.

At least today Keith wasn’t taking any food from Lance. Lance wasn’t really sure if he’d be able to handle that display a second time. Maybe he saw how uncomfortable Lance was yesterday and decided to stop? Lance had no idea what was going through the guy’s mind. Across the table Shiro was shooting Keith stern looks. Brotherly fear must trump alien bug bites, Lance figured. Keith was inching very close to Lance, however. He got close enough that their arms brushed together every so often and Lance could feel the blush creeping back onto his cheeks. Pidge had her phone out and was not so subtly taking pictures of the two of them.

Training came next.

Lance immediately made a beeline for Hunk for his sparring partner. He actually did think for a second he’d be able to train in peace, but he should have known better.

“Lance.” Keith grabbed his arm and tugged him backwards. “You’re with me today.”

“I always train with you! I want to train with someone else today.” Lance said, trying to get out of it.

“We train together because we’re the closest in fighting level.” Keith replied, still pulling Lance over to their area of the training room. “Plus I’d really like a chance to get my hands on you.” He winked at him.

“Shiro!” Lance called for their leader.

Shiro was, however, completely distracted by Allura. ‘The heteros have failed me again.’ Lance thought bitterly. The two were sparring and Lance was pretty sure they managed to make it more romantic than even Keith could manage in his current state. It’s not like Lance could really blame Shiro though. Being pinned by Allura was a fantasy anyone with eyes had.

“I’ll taze him if he gets weird!” Pidge yelled across the room. Keith stuck his tongue out at here and yeah, okay, that was really cute. Lance wasn’t going to make it through today alive.

“You always end up with your ass on the ground, let’s see if you can hold me down for once.” Keith said.

Lance did his best to push the double meaning out of Keith’s taunt so he could focus on sparring. He hoped that Keith had his mind on sparring as well, but given how easy it was to get under him to flip him over and pin him to the ground, his mind was anywhere but fighting.

“I knew you had it in you.” Keith grinned. Lance sat up quickly and backed away from the boy laying underneath him. “Aw, come on. I know you’re shy, but you’re so cute you can’t expect me not to want this.”

“But you _don’t_ want this!” Lance hissed. “God, you’re so smart Keith, how has this thing infected you so completely that you can’t even realize that these feelings you’re having never existed before yesterday?” Keith looked like he was about to say something but Lance didn’t give him the chance. He stood up and stormed out of the training room, calling out over his shoulder to Shiro that he needed a break.

Footsteps sounded in the hall behind him as he made his way back to his room. Keith. It had to be Keith.

Lance turned a corner, then another, heading away from the rooms and hoping that Keith wouldn’t know where he went. He pressed his back against the wall to make himself fit in a small crevice there and held his breath as he heard Keith’s steps stop in the hallway, then return and grow louder. 

“Lance? Where did you go?”

Lance struggled to make himself as small as possible inside his hiding spot but he knew that if Keith got close it wasn’t going to matter.

“There you are!” Keith said happily when he caught sight of Lance hiding. “What are you doing there?”

Lance’s first thought was to move – get away from the wall and run to his room before Keith did something Lance wouldn’t be able to resist. He couldn’t. Keith was in his space immediately and pressed himself up against Lance’s chest. His face was as red as Lance knew his own must be, and his eyes were dilated past what would be normal for this light. 

“I know you don’t think what I’m feeling is genuine.” Keith said softly, his breath warm and intoxicating against Lance’s face. “But I feel it, Lance. You’re all I can think about.” He wasn’t even looking Lance in the eyes, he was staring down and to the side. “If what I’m feeling isn’t real then why does it hurt so much to be apart from you?”

Lance could feel his breath catch his throat. He wanted more than anything to lean forward and kiss Keith. He wanted to let Keith kiss him, have him in any way that he could imagine but he _couldn’t_.

Keith raised his gaze to look Lance in the eyes. “Please Lance.” He breathed. “Let me kiss you.”

He wasn’t thinking, he couldn’t think. Lance nodded before he could stop himself and suddenly Keith’s lips were on his. This had to stop, Lance knew that. He tried to push Keith away but Keith just took his wrists and pinned them back against the wall so he keep kissing the object of his infatuation. 

“Keith stop – ” Lance tried to say against his lips. That was a mistake, Keith took his chance to push his tongue between Lance’s lips and deepen their kiss. Lance could feel his face burning. ‘This must be what dying feels like,’ he thought. He had to be dying. His brain was on fire and he couldn’t think about anything except the electricity shooting through his veins as Keith continued to kiss him and press up against his body. 

Finally, Keith pulled back. He licked his lips and smiled softly at Lance. “Lance, I,”

Lance didn’t wait for him to finish. It was becoming habit to run away from these situations with Keith at this point. There wasn’t much else he could do. He shoved Keith. Hard. Keith stumbled backwards and tripped, falling hard on the ground. Lance didn’t care. He had to get away. He just ruined everything _real_ he could have ever had with Keith and he had to get away. So he ran.

Once he was back in his room where Keith couldn’t flirt with him and make him feel weird all over, he tried to force himself to relax. He pulled out a box of sewing supplies he’d found in his closet as well as some old clothes he was using for scrap fabric and began to stitch pieces together. Since he’d gotten into space he’d tried to make souvenirs for his family for when he one day got to see them again. Now he was sewing a small Queen Luxia for his niece. She loved mermaids even more than he did. His hands were shaking and he could barely see straight as he looked at the fabric swatches in his lap.

There was a knock at the door and Lance dropped the needle he was holding.

“Go away Keith! I’m not opening the door until you’re better.” He yelled.

“It’s Shiro.”

“My bad. Go away _Shiro_. I’m not opening the door until Keith is better.”

“I actually ran into Keith in the hallway.” Shiro said. “I heard about what happened. I’m sorry Lance, I should have followed you sooner after you left. But if it makes you feel any better, I may have accidentally locked Keith’s door from the outside. He can’t get out until I let him.”

Lance got up and opened the door. “You seriously gave him a time out?” 

Shiro chuckled. “Yes. He needed it. Can I come in?”

Lance hesitated for a moment before stepping to the side to let Shiro come in. He sat down on Lance’s bed and motioned for Lance to join him.

“We need to talk about what’s been happening with Keith.” He said. “I should have been monitoring the situation more closely, and I’m really sorry you’ve been put through all this, Lance. I hope you’ll be able to forgive Keith for his behavior once this is all over and out of his system.”

“That’s not the problem.” Lance mumbled.

“What?”

“I said. That’s not the problem.” Lance repeated a bit louder.

“What are you talking about?”

“I kissed him!” Lance hid his face in his hands. “I’m a bad person, Shiro! God I liked him so much and I knew it was wrong but I let him kiss me! What kind of person does that? He’s been infected by some sort of space love potion and I was enjoying it! He kissed me and he never would have done that if he had been in his right mind, and I _know_ that and I still let it happen!”

“I heard he kissed you, I had no idea,”

“No idea how awful I am, I know, right?” Tears were burning behind Lance’s eyes as he spoke. “He’s going to hate me. I’d hate me. Hell, I already _do_ hate me. You probably hate me now, too. I took advantage of your baby bro because I’m selfish and weak and – ”

“Hold on Lance, you need to calm down.” Shiro put his arm around Lance’s shoulder and tried to hold him steady as his body began to shake. Tears started to drip down his cheek but at least Shiro couldn’t see that with his face buried in his hands.

“Lance, listen to me. You’re not a bad person.” He paused. “You have a crush on Keith?” 

Lance nodded.

“You’re right when you say it’s wrong to take advantage of someone who can’t think straight, but nobody can expect you to be perfect when someone you like is acting like that towards you. It’s the Hubun’s fault, okay Lance?”

Lance took a shuttered breath and uncovered his face. Shiro wiped a tear away with his thumb and smiled at him. 

“Have you heard of the bro code, Lance?”

Lance snorted. “Yes dude, of course I have.”

“Well, there’s a funny thing about it. It only really applies to friends. For example, I’m not going to turn around and tell Keith that you have a crush on him when he gets better because we’re friends. Keith on the other hand, isn’t a friend. He’s a brother.” He was grinning mischievously and Lance wasn’t sure he trusted it. “Which is why it’s my duty to tell his secrets if they’re embarrassing or if I think it’ll make things better. So Lance, I have no obligation at all to hide the fact that Keith actually does have a crush on you, and has for a while now.”

“You’re lying.” Lance said almost instantly. 

“Scouts honor.” Shiro held up three fingers in a scout salute. “When he gets better, you two should have a talk.”

 

-oOo-

 

Best case scenario seemed to be the one that happened. Lance woke up the next morning to find his jacket folded up neatly by his door, which Lance took as meaning that Keith was back to normal. He knocked on his door and while there was no answer, he could hear shuffling coming from inside.

“Keith?” He called out. After there was no response, he tried again. “Keith, buddy. We need to talk.”

A couple of ticks passed, then a few more, a dozen more; Lance was about ready to leave when the door finally slid open.

“Lance I’m so sorry I can’t believe how I was acting oh quiznak you must have me I’d hate me and I – ”

Lance decided that after all the hell Keith had been putting him through he deserved the opportunity to deal back exactly what had been done to him. So he stepped into Keith’s room and silenced him by grabbing his face and kissing him.

Keith stepped back, eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. “You just – but – Lance after what I did – ”

“I really, really like you Keith.” Lance said. “I have for a while and that’s why I was freaking out with how you were acting. I thought you couldn’t possibly like me without that stupid bite but Shiro said – ”

“Shiro is a traitor!” Keith was blushing furiously. 

“Oh come on, you can’t be that mad.” Lance laughed. “Do you want to try to kiss me without being all love potioned and overly aggressive about it?”

“Yes. Hell yes.” Keith grabbed the front of Lance’s shirt and pulled him back for a rough kiss.

If they ever went back to Oulike, Lance might have to thank them.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this! I really wanted to post it so I hope in my haste I don't have many errors  
> leave a comment and tell me what you think!


End file.
